The image for Ike’s World Progressive Challenge this month really is a challenge being the grim reaper. A lot of craft challenges and digital stamp companies have taken the halloween approach to October. I am not a fan, never have been, I try to be more a Philippians 4:8 girl. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (NIV)

So you see my dilemma. So I have been pondering all month. I was just going to skip this month and then buy back into the challenge in November but then I had a bit of a brain wave. I have been wanting to try a bit of Bible journaling for a while but never really got around to it so when Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, came to mind I thought I would try out an idea in an old Bible I have been saving to practice in.

If you read my post a while back on the decorated candle, I used the same technique for printing the image onto tissue paper. There are a lot of videos online which will explain the process.

Once I had my image sized correctly and printed onto tissue I very carefully coloured it using the Polychromos. Because it is so easy to tear the tissue I had to work very lightly building up the colour in a series of layers. I did not attempt to burnish as I think the tissue would not be strong enough to take it, that is probably why the photo is showing up areas that are quite grainy looking.

When my image was coloured as best as I could do I carefully tore around the edge leaving a little border then glued it to the page with a bookbinding glue. Because the edge is torn rather than cut it gives a softer join so once the glue had dried it was hard to see where the image and the page meet with the naked eye (the photo shows it up more as it is zoomed in).

When I left school I trained as a librarian and we did a bookbinding and book repairing unit at college. I will always remember the lecturer talking about how evil sellotape is and should never be used to repair books! He was right, of course, over time it yellows and goes brittle and leaches into the paper damaging the pages. Do you know the correct way to repair ripped pages? Go on have a guess! Yep tissue paper and bookbinding glue! I knew that unit would be useful again one day even though I ended up working in school not in a library.

Can you believe it is already the middle of October? It is certainly feeling more Autumnal here in the UK, our long hot summer is receding into memory as the wind and the rain make their presence felt. I quite like the changing colours of Autumn, it’s just that it has been a bit sudden this year.

There is still a bit of colour left in the gardens, particularly a lot of purple flowers. Not sure if it is a general thing or just this year but most of the colour left does seem to be purple. We have visited quite a few National Trust gardens recently and they all had purple flowers in abundance.

As you may know this month the optional theme for The Path of Positivity Challenge is Shades of purple and we are now half way throught the challenge month so here is my card for the midway reminder.

The little flower I already had in my stash made and not used on a previous project, it was pure chance that the colour worked with the picture! I have not added a sentiment to the card because I am not sure yet how I will use it. It could be a Christmas card or even a winter birthday card so for now I am leaving it open.

I hope you will join us along the path. Remember the theme is optional although following it makes you eligible for another chance at the prizes on offer from our two sponsors this month. All the details and how to enter can be found at the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog.

Time for a new challenge at Path of Positivity and this time in our colour journey we are focusing on Purple.

Purple is my favourite colour which I think I may have mentioned before. I love the richness of the deep hues that make me think of the Magi at Christmas even though no one knows what they wore! Purple does get a mention in the Bible but in a different context suggesting it was a colour cloth for rich people. Of course purple is also associated with Easter, the soldiers mocking Jesus put a purple robe on him, again although they meant it as mockery, suggesting the royal connection.

The lighter tones of lilac are also beautiful, more delicate and make me think of Springtime with the purple crocus and even the odd puple looking bluebell.

The image and sentiment are printed together on the X-Press It card and cut out with a rectangle die. The edges have been highlighted with the Frayed Burlap ink. The middle layer is cut from white card and coloured with the Wild Plum using a stencil brush.

We have two fantastic sponsors this month, Limited Runs and A Day For Daisies. To find out the prizes on offer and how to enter please go to the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog where you will find all the details. While you are there please do take a look at the amazing work from the rest of the Design Team.

I hope to meet you along the Path. I’ll be the one wearing purple! Take care.

I made the backing paper on the computer using a quote from the film of Peter Pan. Pete is coloured in then cut out with a small border around him. I have attached him to the card front with some gel glue to give a bit of dimension so he is standing proud of the star.

The image for the Progressive Challenge at Limited Runs is Dracula, all be it a cheerful one! However I am not into Halloween at all so have done a bit of alterations to him to make him less vampirish, if that is a word!

To alter the image I have just drawn in some teeth with a black fine liner and covered his skull broach up with the button. I was really fortunate to come across the quote online as it fitted the image so well.

Just a word of caution, if you decide to alter any images please check with the TOU of the company, some artists do not agree to any changes in the overall look of their art work. I checked with Nikki at Limited Runs before messing about with his teeth!

It’s the half way point of the challenge at Path of Positivity with the optional theme of Shades of Orange. For my card this time I have actually got around to trying out a stepper card die I had for Christmas!

Orange is a very popular colour at the moment as Autumn comes creeping into the Northern Hemisphere. Pumpkins are starting to appear in our shops and the leaves are just starting to turn on some of our trees in the woods. After the unusually long and very hot British summer it is something of a shock to discover that the temperature has plummeted over the past few days. We have been having some of our windows replaced and with no glass in for much of the day the house has gone really cold. It is quite a relief to be slaving over a hot laptop!!

I used up quite a few snippits making the embellishment mats and layers for the side parts of card. Needless to say the snippit box is still overflowing!

There is still time to join in with us this month either with the optional orange theme or without. Just be sure that if you would like a chance to win the prize for the Most Inspirational Creation, over half of the colours in your project must be made up of shades of orange. The shades can be in the colours you choose to fill your images with, and/or they can be in your choices of papers and embellishments. Just make sure that the majority of your project focuses on the varying shades of orange. Also make sure you add FT after your name when you link up your project, it makes it a bit easier for the DT to see which entries qualify as having followed the theme.

We’d also love to find out how this month’s colour makes you feel, if you’d like to share that with us.What kinds of feelings does the colour orangeevoke in you? You can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you’d like.

Remember, in order to be considered eligible for this month’s prizes, ALL creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. You don’t need to follow the optional theme if you simply want to have a chance at the Random Draw prize of a $10 gift certificate from Imagine That Digistamp, one of our guest sponsors this month. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win an additional sponsored prize of a $15 gift certificate from Lunagirl, the second of our guest sponsors this month, for the project chosen as Most Inspiring.

I shall be picking up a mop and bucket tomorrow instead of pens! We have just had some of our windows replaced including the kitchen and bathroom so there is dust everywhere. Tomorrow will be wash down day.

I love this image from Limited Runs, it reminds me of my youngest daughter, any excuss to be up a tree or hanging from a pole in the park! Usually there is a progressive challenge on the Limited Runs Facebook page but this month they have a second sponsor so have made it an open challenge using any Limited Runs image. How could I not do this one?!

The apperture in the card blank and the blue liner are cut with the Spellbinders dies. Jazz I have stuck by just the ends of the pole so that she is free swinging a bit. The flowers and the leaves were already in my stash.

It’s the start of a new challenge at Path of Positivity after our summer break. This month the optional theme is Shades of Orange. With all the heat over the summer in the UK it has been a fairly dominant colour with the sun’s heat in the day and the wonderful sunsets at night. However orange is associated in most crafter’s minds with Autumn, the changing colours in the trees, the harvesting of the pumpkins, even making chutney’s and marmalades ready to mature for Christmas presents or the Christmas table.

I have chosen to do something a bit different this time and have made a candle to share with you. It is really easy, especially as I used a pre-coloured image, and there are plenty of videos on YouTube to show you how it is done should you wish to give it a go yourself.

All I have done is to print the image out on tissue paper then very gently melt it into the candle. You can also print out a line image and colour it carefully first, that works well too.

I hope you will join in with us this month either with the optional orange theme or without. Just be sure that if you would like a chance to win the prize for the Most Inspirational Creation, over half of the colours in your project must be made up of shades of orange. The shades can be in the colours you choose to fill your images with, and/or they can be in your choices of papers and embellishments. Just make sure that the majority of your project focuses on the varying shades of orange. Also make sure you add FT after your name when you link up your project, it makes it a bit easier for the DT to see which entries qualify as having followed the theme.

We’d also love to find out how this month’s colour makes you feel, if you’d like to share that with us.What kinds of feelings does the colour orangeevoke in you? You can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you’d like.

Remember, in order to be considered eligible for this month’s prizes, ALL creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. You don’t need to follow the optional theme if you simply want to have a chance at the Random Draw prize of a $10 gift certificate from Imagine That Digistamp, one of our guest sponsors this month. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win an additional sponsored prize of a $15 gift certificate from Lunagirl, the second of our guest sponsors this month, for the project chosen as Most Inspiring.